Charlie brings in a sweet opening weekend for WB

WILLY Wonka ensured that American cinemas enjoyed another sweet
weekend at the box office, as Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory debuted with an estimated $55.4
million.

Tim Burton's update of the classic Roald Dahl tale stars Johnny
Depp and Freddie Highmore and was widely predicted to follow the
success of Fantastic Four by opening strongly.

Good reviews helped, of course, as the film was mostly well-received
- it opens in the UK in a fortnight's time.

Also helping the upturn in box office fortunes was the comedy,
Wedding Crashers, which
'crashed' the number two spot with a healthy opening take of roughly
$32.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday (July 17,
2005).

And Fantastic Four still
took a creditable $22.7 million, lifting its 10-day total to $100.1
million, and slipping only to third place despite lukewarm reviews.

The July 15-17 weekend marked the second consecutive week that
Hollywood revenues rose after the slump that has lasted since
February.

But the performance came as no surprise to Warner Bros execs,
including Dan Fellman, who put it down to the star's obvious box
office charisma and wonderful chemistry with director, Burton
(the film marks their fourth collaboration).

"It's a great chemistry they create, Tim with his imagination,
Johnny and a great cast," explained Mr Fellman.

Also patting themselves on the back were New Line, who believe
the strong opening weekend for Wedding Crashers vindicated their
decision to go for a higher rating.

Russell Schwartz, the studio's head of marketing, told the Hollywood
Reporter: "There's been such a move toward more sanitized
movies, so I think the R rating actually helped.

"And it's not a hard R. I think it of more as a soft R.
It's a movie that wears the R on its sleeve very proudly."

The movie also opened in UK cinemas on Thursday to similarly
strong figures and word of mouth from comedy audiences.